Elevating
by TheLovelyRusher
Summary: "Kendall was always so strong. Nothing broke him. But right now, he was shattered into a million pieces" The guys elevate above the hate. Written early for march 3rd antibullying day.


**A/N Ok so this is for anti-bullying day March 3****rd****, but since I am busy all week and won't have access to my computer march 3****rd****, I decided to post it now. I've been hearing some really heartbreaking facts about the 1D fans being really mean to our band. Big Time Rush is being bullied right now. And it needs to stop. I am also hearing a lot of things about Rushers wanting/planning on beating up the 1D fans at the shows, and that's unacceptable. Big Time Rush wouldn't want that. The boys are hurting, judging by their tweets, but they are rising above it and brushing it off. They don't want to see their rushers whom they love to start fighting. I think that would hurt them more than the words being said to them right now. Rise above the hate with them. They didn't name their new album "Elevate" for nothing. Anyway, this one-shot will be BASED off of a crude comment that someone told Kendall about being ugly. We all know Kendall is gorgeous inside and out, so go tweet HeffronDrive that he is and always will be your coverboy, it means a lot to him.**

**Also, this story is not meant to target one directioners, because I know a lot who are amazing. This is a story targeting bullying, in the form of the rumors going around about the Better With You Tour. This is a fictional story, BASED off of the stories and events that have been happening.**

Kendall looked out at his sea of fans, overwhelmed by the sheer number of girls and even guys that were there, anxiously awaiting to take a photo with their beloved band. He could feel the excitement radiating off of the crowd. He could practically _taste_ it. And he wasn't afraid to admit that he was just as excited to meet them as they were too meet him. After all, the band would be nowhere without their beautiful support and for that he was eternally grateful.

Finally, it was time for the line of lucky fans to move up and meet their favorite band. The first group came up and Kendall's grin grew as wide and as bright as the sun. He stepped forward and reached his hand out to the first fan to approach the band, but surprisingly, she did not take the hand. At first, he assumed she was shy, so he kept his hand extended and softened his voice.

"Hey, gorgeous. I'm Kendall. What's your name?" He asked sweetly. But the fan just gave him a dirty look. Kendall was confused when she walked right past him to take the picture with the boys, and that's when he caught a glimpse of her homemade jersey. Kendall did a double take at first, thinking he might have read the harsh words wrong, but sure enough it read "Better Without BTR Tour." Kendall gasped and glanced over to his band mates, who looked just as crest fallen as he did. Obviously they had seen the jersey's as well, and it wasn't just one girl, it was a group of 4 of them. It was clear as day that they were at the show only to meet and watch the opening band, not Big Time Rush, and they were making sure that Big Time Rush knew this.

Kendall sucked in a breath and posed for the picture, not looking very happy about it. The girls looked quite proud of themselves. The one standing next to Kendall turned slightly and smirked at him. He smiled at her warmly, deciding not to judge. He was supposed to lead a good example for all of the younger fans at the show. He wouldn't let his true fans down.

"This shouldn't be your tour," The girl said with a mean snort in her voice. "It's just a waste of time. Nobody wants to watch your ugly face or hear your nasty voice. You shouldn't even get on that stage."

Kendall's eyes grew wide with shock at the girls words. He swallowed with difficulty and tried to pretend that he didn't hear the mean comment. She spoke so low that none of the other guys even heard her, and she was gone in a blink of the eye, walking away while chortling evilly with her girlfriends.

"Dude, you alright?" Carlos whispered, leaning forward and patting Kendall's chest when he saw a flash of hurt in his emerald eyes. Kendall blinked and nodded quickly, putting on a smile.

"Yeah, fine," he mumbled. Carlos could tell he was lying, but didn't have enough time to press the issue any further, because a new group of girls who were actual fans of Big Time Rush came forward, eager for pictures and a chance to chat with their idols for a brief moment.

Kendall heard Kelly and Gustavo's helpful words cross his mind, when the 2 had given the band a pep talk about how they might have to face harsh criticism as they became exceedingly popular. It was to be expected, and they would just have to brush it off and know that they have their true fan base. But it was easier said than done.

The entire rest of the meet and greet, Kendall felt as if a dark, gloomy cloud was just looming over him. He couldn't get the girls words out of his head. All his life, growing up, he was made fun of for his looks, but the bullying had been forgotten about ever since they were dragged to LA to become a boy band. It took a while, but his confidence had been slowly built up and in just one short moment, all of that confidence was crumbled down. Kendall's shield was gone. He felt vulnerable and self-conscious, even when the rest of the fans gave him compliments and hugs.

It was just one girl. He shouldn't listen to one girl. Surely he was blowing the comment all out of proportion. It had to be all in his head, right? Than why did he feel this way? Why did he feel like, just by the way she said it, that he was a worthless part of the band? Why did Kendall really, honestly, truly believe that he was ugly and did not deserve to get on that stage?

"Kendall, you were so quiet during the meet and greet today," James said as the boys chilled in their dressing room, waiting for their cue to head backstage. Kendall didn't answer James, though. The blonde was seated on the couch with a faraway, glazed look in his eyes as he chewed nervously on his fingernails, wearing them down so far that it actually hurt, but he continued to gnaw at them and ignored the pain.

"Hey, what's wrong Kendall?" James asked, worried now. He took a seat next to his friend and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Huh? Nothing dude, I'm fine. Just nervous," Kendall replied, shrugging James' arm off and getting to his feet. "Are we ready to go onstage?"

'They haven't called us yet," Carlos said, but Kendall was already out the door. The remaining ¾ of BTR exchanged frazzled, concerned glances. Something was definitely going on with their friend, but there was nothing they could do about it this close to showtime.

"We'll talk to him after the show," Logan said, trying to ease his friend's worries.

"But he never gets nervous," Carlos said in a small voice. James nodded, agreeing with Carlos. That was very unlikely behavior for Kendall.

"He'll be ok," Logan assured them. As always, James and Carlos believed Logan's words, but this time he was about to be very wrong.

The show started off with just as much energy as it always did, but it was easy to tell that Kendall's stage presence was lacking, even though he sang the songs with twice as much emotion as he normally did. At times, Logan could even recognize tears in his friend's voice, but whenever he would look in Kendall's direction and make eye contact, the blonde would flinch away. But other than that, the concert went perfectly up until "Cover Girl."

The boys were seated on the edge of the stage, crooning to their fans and squinting to see their swooning faces through the blinding stage, when it happened. James was in the middle of a moving verse that Kendall wrote when tears and emotion hit the hurt boy like a brick wall, with such force that he could hardly move. He could see a row of empty seats where the fans of just the opening band had all rudely left when BTR had taken the stage and that only made it worse. He did not feel good enough to be on the stage, despite the song James was singing.

"_When You're looking at the magazines, and thinking that you're never good enough, you're wrong," _ James sang. Kendall was supposed to start the chorus, but he couldn't. He just stared at the crowd, the words gathering and choking in his throat. He dropped his mic to his side and blinked back a flood of tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"_No, this can't be happening," _Kendall thought, panic taking over as the emotions threatened to break him down right there on stage, in front of thousands of fans.

Logan came to the rescue and started singing Kendall's lines, looking at him worriedly through the corner of his eyes. Kendall could see the fans were just as worried as his band mates were, but all of that was clouded by his sudden onslaught of tears. Kendall couldn't take it anymore. He coughed out a sob he had been holding back, and his cheeks turned bright red. He couldn't help but think that if he was thought of as ugly before this, he definitely was now, with his eyes all puffy and his face all blotchy, choking on his own tears.

"Kendall!" Carlos yelled when the distraught blonde got to his feet and ran off the stage. Kendall didn't even hear his friends and fans call for him. He was hyperventilating with panic and humiliation now, and he felt like his legs couldn't take him away fast enough. He came to a cement staircase and ran down them 2 at a time. He was so blinded by tears that he didn't watch his step and fell, scraping his knee in the process, but he didn't stay down for longer than a couple of seconds. Kendall placed his sweaty palms on the gritty concrete and pushed with all his strength to get back on his feet. His knee screamed in pain but he hardly felt it. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he continued to run until he came to a set of metal double doors. He pushed through the heavy doors and a cold gust of air hit his heated, wet face. Kendall was outside in the back alley of the arena they were playing, and he had nowhere else to run. He had nowhere to go, and exhaustion finally took over. Kendall leaned against the brick wall and gasped for air, slowly sliding down until he landed on his haunches. He felt like his chest was closing in on him, making it difficult to catch his breath. More tears stung at his eyes viciously and he didn't even bother to wipe them away. He wanted to cry. He deserved to cry. So that's what he did. He pressed his back to the cold brick and hugged his knees to his chest, letting his emotions overcome any rational thinking.

Kendall couldn't understand _why. _Why, after writing that song to make so many girls feel as beautiful as they really were, one single person would ruin it by saying that he, himself, was too ugly to even be on the stage? And why did he believe her? Maybe because he was told he was ugly his whole life, and that one comment brought all those torments back to him as if they happened yesterday.

"Oh God, Kendall," A familiar voice breathed softly. Kendall did not even bother to look up. He was just taken aback that his friends had actually followed him off the stage and found him.

Logan knelt down and wiped the sweat off of Kendall's brow tenderly. He ran his fingers through his damp, blonde locks and tangled them in the tuft of hair at the nape of his neck.

"Kendall, look at me," Logan begged, rubbing his neck gently. "What happened out there?"

Kendall sniffled and struggled to talk through his sobs. "Just continue the show without me," he stuttered, burying his face in his knees, beyond embarrassed now.

"No," Logan said forcefully. Kendall looked up briefly and was met with 3 sets of concerned, loving eyes staring at him patiently. There was not a trace of anger like he feared there would be for leaving his band mates on the stage like that. The boys could care less about what was going on at the concert now. They only cared about what was happening to Kendall.

"Forget about the show dude," James said. "Why are you crying buddy?"

"Is it because you hurt your knee?" Carlos asked, pointing to the bloody, torn material covering Kendall's leg. Logan hissed in sympathy and lightly ghosted his fingers around the wound, while James nudged the Latino.

"He was crying before that happened," James whispered, rolling his eyes.

"Oh," Carlos said sadly. "Kendall, please tell us why you're crying." The Latino was desperate to know what happened. Was he hurt, or sick? It was extremely uncharacteristic of Kendall to run off the stage like that.

Kendall didn't answer, though. His hands covered his hot face, and Logan took him into his arms gently, whispering shushes into his ear while James and Carlos rubbed his back. When the sobs finally subsided, Logan gently pried Kendall off of his chest, cringing a little at how his now soaked shirt clung to his skin.

"Are you ready to talk?" Logan asked, letting Kendall know that he had the option. He didn't have to tell them everything if he wasn't ready. But now that Kendall cried it all out, he felt bad about keeping his friends in the dark.

"Do you know why I wrote Covergirl?" Kendall started, wiping his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"Why?" Carlos asked, slinging an arm around his friend, who was trying to dry his tear-streaked cheeks. He decided to help him and wiped under his eyes with his thumb. Kendall smiled gratefully and blushed.

"Because I didn't ever want any those innocent, beautiful girls to feel like how I did when I was younger," Kendall said shakily, his voice thick and raspy from crying. "They don't know how beautiful they really are and I wanted to find a way to show them, and that way was through a song. It… It sucks to feel that way, like you're ugly inside and out. Like you don't deserve to live or breathe, let alone be in a band…" Kendall trailed off, fearing that he might breakdown again.

"Kendall where is this all coming from?" James asked, hazel eyes shining with concern. He felt a surge of protection run through him. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the immature reaction of some "fans" attending the concerts, but he didn't know it would affect him so deeply. Kendall was always so strong. Nothing broke him. But right now, Kendall was shattered into a million tiny pieces.

"She called me ugly," Kendall said with a cough. His chest ached and his head swam. He had cried so hard that it actually hurt, yet it felt kind of good to let out so much pent up emotion, even though his feelings had picked about the worst time to let themselves surface. "It hurt, so bad… Like she stabbed me with a knife. I don't even know why it hurt so bad, it just did. I couldn't take it. I'm so sorry I broke down like that. I'd take it back if I could. I ruined the concert-"

"Ssh," Logan said suddenly, pressing his finger to Kendall's lips. "Don't you dare apologize, buddy. We aren't upset at you. I'm upset at whoever made you cry, though."

Kendall shook his head. "Don't be, it's over. The words were said and she's gone now, there's nothing we can do about it."

"But she hurt you," Carlos said. "She made you think you were ugly. And you're not, Kendall. If you were a girl, you'd be hot."

Kendall smirked and giggled, and James and Logan followed suit, because Kendall had once dressed up as a girl and he looked anything _but _hot.

"I think Kendall's right though," Logan said. "We can't be angry about what happened. Kelly and Gustavo warned us this would happen. It doesn't make it hurt any less, but we gotta rise above it. We have to use the negativity and turn it around to bring us closer together as a band. This tour experience is crazy, and it has its ups and downs but it's going to make us stronger. It's preparing us for what's ahead."

James grinned. "Yeah. We have to elevate above the hate and focus on our true fans. You gotta admit, the girls do dig us."

Logan chuckled. "Yes, they do, James."

Kendall smiled and stood up. "Let's go finish that show and give our fans the show they deserve."

Logan smiled proudly at his friend. "So you're okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Kendall said nodding, and the band of brothers made their way inside the venue and back to the stage to finish where they left off.

"You know, there's no such thing as ugly in my book," Kendall announced as he took the stage. The fans cheered wildly, but quieted down to let him give a small speech. "That's why I wrote Covergirl, to show all of you that 'ugly' is dirty, false word and that each and every one of you is beautiful. Even the ones who made mistakes, and maybe wronged somebody in the past, I forgive them all. You're all my 'covergirls!'"

The crowd started cheering as the music started, but even above the steadily rising noise he heard a fan in the audience yell out, 'You're our coverboy, Kendall!" And a single tear pricked at his eyes, but this time, his tears were happy, grateful ones.

**A/N I hope that was ok! I only had like an hour to write it so sorry if it seems super rushed! But hopefully I still got the point across, and I pray that Big Time Rush is using this experience to become closer as a band. I know they're elevating above the hate! Love you all and elevate above bullying, just like Big Time Rush is doing! If anyone who's being a victim of bullying needs an ear, I'm always here.**

**Reviews are sprinkles on my ice cream cone.**

**Oh, ps, this is my 20****th**** story posted on here. WHOA. There wouldn't be a 20****th**** story if it weren't for you guys, my readers, so thank you with all my heart.**


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